briefly the situation at the Lake Road bridge and gave
them his idea of how the task should be handled. Of course, they were
all eager to undertake the work, and in a few minutes they were on their
way to the scene of trouble.

The chauffeur and his men had done as Bruce suggested, and when the lads
arrived they found two great stacks of canvas scenery by the roadside.
They gave this only a moment's inspection, however, for they had work
before them. With as much system as a trained army corps they began to
unload the coils of rope and the pulleys. Then, under Bruce's direction,
several wove the cordage into a block and tackle arrangement. This done,
a group headed by Romper Ryan removed shoes and stockings and began to
ford the shallow stream, carrying the block and tackle with them. In no
time they had one of the pulleys lashed to a substantial maple tree by
the roadside. The other pulley was fastened to the back end of the
automobile truck, which was still on the sloping floor of the bridge.

When this was completed the single strand of rope on which they were to
haul was passed back across the stream and attached to the rear axle of
"Old Nanc."

Then came the test of the boys' engineering skill. At the request of
Bruce the scouts all seized the rope to assist "Old Nanc" in hauling the
big machine backward up the grade. Bud, the official driver of the
troop's automobile, climbed to his place and everything was ready.

"Now, all together! Pull!" shouted Bruce, and at the command every scout
arched his shoulders and hauled his hardest, while "Old Nanc's" engine
began to cough and grumble furiously.

The tackle grew taut. The pulleys squeaked and groaned and the bridge
timbers protested in like manner as the big truck began to move. Up it
crawled, inch by inch. Now the hood was out of water! A moment later
the rear wheels were onto the road! Slowly but surely it was lifted out
of the brook until, finally, with a mighty tug, the lads backed it clear
off the bridge and safely onto the highway.

"Fine!" shouted the chauffeur. "I knew you scouts were the bully boys.
But, say, fellows, how's the machine going to get across the stream! We
are bound for Woodbridge, you know, and we're on the wrong side of the
busted bridge now."

"Oh, maybe we can work that out some way," said Bruce. "I guess we'll
try to make a pair of shears out of a couple of fence rails, then hitch
the block and tackle to the bridge